translation question

[John Dunn]

Out of curiosity I had been pursuing this and discovered that the rank of ensign was indeed at one time the lowest infantry officer rank in the British army and moreover, just as the rank of praporshchik was abolished in 1884 (except for reservists), so the rank of ensign was abolished in 1871.  There would thus seem to be a very close equivalence, but one which may be of no practical value, especially if the translation is to published in the United States.   As far as I understand these things, a praporshchik in the Soviet and post-Soviet armed forces is indeed roughly equivalent to a warrant officer.

John Dunn.



-----Original Message-----
From: "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM>
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:10:16 -0400
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] translation question

Vadim Besprozvany wrote:

> The answer of the second question is much obvious: "praporshchik"  
> (Engl. ensign) is a junior officer in an infantry regiment; from  
> "prapor" - "flag, banner" *(cf. with English "ensign"). "Warrant  
> Officer" usually means in Russian "unter-oficer."  ...

I don't claim to know British usage, but in American English, "ensign" 
is specifically a naval rank, roughly like "lieutenant" in the other 
services. It would sound very peculiar for us to hear an army officer 
called "ensign."

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------



John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------